Our Asia Trip Diary – Part One
We first have a six-hour flight to Jeddah followed by a ten-hour flight to Jakarta. As I expected to get travel sick (because last long flights I was), the journey went quite well and before we know it, we’re already queueing for our Visa on Arrival in Jakarta Airport. Everything goes very smoothly, our luggage arrived with us (thank god!) and with the airport Wi-Fi we are finding out how to get to our first hotel with public transport.
After a comfy train ride to the city centre, we took a small and bumpy bus. Little did we know we needed a prepaid bus card for the ride… Luckily a friendly local helped us out and even paid for our ride! We felt a bit guilty about it, but afterwards finding out it was only €0,26, we were very happy she was there.
For our first two nights in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, we are staying at a fancy hotel. I won this hotel voucher, so we could afford some luxury. It’s probably going to be the last nights with some luxury for us! Before going to bed, we stop at a warung for our first Indonesian dish!
(A warung is a restaurant on the street where you can eat affordable and local food.)
Starting our first full day with a swim in the pool! After this refreshment we take a grab (the Asian Uber) to the national monument. The heat is already overwhelming us as well as the air pollution. We take a stroll through Chinatown, get photographed at Fatahillah Square (you can take that quite seriously, since locals want to take pictures with us as if we’re famous football players) and walk all the way to the old town.
When we’re tired, we take a bajaj (tuktuk) to our hotel. We didn’t know we had walked so far through the city and also our driver had underestimated the distance… We were on the road for 1,5 hours (traffic!) but got home safely. One more dinner at a warang before our last night in the capital. Tomorrow we’re leaving to Yogyakarta.
In the night I get sick. But we need to wake up early to get our train. It’s an awful morning on the train (read a lot of toilet visits and some puke bags further) but after six hours we arrive at Yogyakarta and I’m so lucky Marnick is here with me. The train was actually quite luxurious and we had some views on the local villages and nature of Indonesia on the way.
The hotel we booked is in a bustling neighbourhood full of warungs and cafes. There even is a Grab food square (we would call it a foodtruck festival) only 200 meters from our hotel.
We’re spending quite some days in the student city since we’re extending our visa here. The progress takes 7 days, but as there is a lot to do and eat, we absolutely don’t mind! We also take some time to relax, because travelling, jetlag, weather… takes quite some energy out of us.
On Friday we’ve visited Prambanan temple, which is the biggest Hindu temple of the world! As the temple complex is 17 km out of the centre, we take a bus. This ride cost us less than €1 both ways for the both of us. The entrance fee looks quite overpriced for tourists, but we absolutely don’t want to miss this! And wow, the temples are so gorgeous, can’t even describe! Sewu temple is also located in the complex and we believe this one is even more gorgeous than Prambanan. Maybe that’s also because the sun started to set when we where there.
Because of Covid, we couldn’t go inside the temples but it was worth the visit anyway! We actually also wanted to visit the famous Borobudur temple, which is also located outside the city. However, we have decided not to go there because we read online that you’re not allowed to enter the temples or even walk between the stupas because of the Covid restrictions. That means you can only walk around the complex but still have to pay a €50 entrance fee. Very sad, but you always need a reason to return right?
In the meantime I’m not sick anymore, instead, we’re both struggling with throat issues thanks to air pollution and air conditioning. Guess that’s part of travelling as well.
